See.Sense Smart Bike Light Pilot

Key Facts

Partners

Working in conjunction with product creators, ‘See.Sense’, Dublin City Council – through the Smart Dublin initiative – trialled this ‘smart’ bicycle light on the streets of the city to 500 cyclists all around the city.

Project summary

As well as keeping cyclists safer on the road, the Smart light – called ICON – gathers a wide range of anonymised sensor data to inform city planners on how best to improve cycling infrastructure, and create bicycle-friendly policies aimed at promoting cycling in the city.

The light uses advanced sensor and communication technology – normally found only on a mobile phone – to enable the light to adjust to a cyclist’s specific environment.

The result is that, in a more dangerous environment in which there is either less visibility or near-road junctions/roundabouts, the light uses the in-built sensor technology to flash faster and brighter, drawing immediate attention to the cyclist.

Core objectives

Through the Smart Dublin initiative, Dublin City Council wanted to examine not only the safety aspect of the See.Sense smart ICON light on city streets, but to explore the data which the light gathers and feeds back.

Dublin City Council also, however, keen to embrace this unique smart tech opportunity as a means of putting Dublin firmly on the world map for cycling technology.

See.Sense Dublin Cycling Heat MapSee.Sense Most Cycled Routes Dublin

Key product features and USPs

This award-winning smart light, designed by Northern Ireland based company ‘See.Sense’, is made to be visible in daylight, thus enhancing cyclist safety in all lighting conditions.

The ICON is the only bike light in the world that reacts to the cyclist’s environment in real-time, improving visibility in riskier situations, such as braking for roundabouts / busy intersections, or when approached by car headlights at night.

The light boasts 270-degree side visibility which means the cyclist can be seen from greater angles. Also, because it uses Bluetooth integration, users can pair and control their lights via their smartphone and avail of crash and theft alerts for added peace of mind.

The sensors can anonymously gather data relating to the cyclist’s environment, including the quality of the road surface, cycling routes taken, and accidents or near-miss events. All of this enables the light to provide accurate quantitative and qualitative data, allowing the city to be mapped like never before.
*The See.Sense ICON light recently won ‘Best Bike Gadget’ by readers of ‘Road.CC’, the UK’s biggest online cycling website.